1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of solid material comminution or disintegration, and more particularly to inlet provisions for under-sink garbage disposals. In a preferred embodiment, an inlet to an under-sink garbage disposal is guarded by a novel guard and splash-back baffle that permits large waste to pass through, while preventing accidental passage of utensils and other undesirable objects. Further, the combination guard and splash-back baffle co-operatively protect an operator from both harm and splash-back.
2. Description of the Related Art
Persons working in a kitchen generate large amounts of food scraps during the preparation of food. These scraps can range in size from relatively large waste, such as a rotten potato or tomato down to very small trimmings or cuttings that are stuck to a utensil or cutting board. Likewise, those persons consuming the food often leave behind more or less food as waste. Since this food waste will decompose quickly and harmlessly in waste treatment systems, including both municipal and septic systems, the food may be effortlessly disposed of by sending it directly out a sink drain. This permits a cook or cleaner to simply rinse the dishes, utensils and the like, and run the food waste down the drain. However, larger waste such as a whole potato would undesirably clog the plumbing. In fact, even mid-sized food waste can be caught in a partial clog in the plumbing with adverse consequence.
To avoid clogging the plumbing, artisans have developed garbage disposals that comminute or grind food waste into small particles that will pass safely through plumbing. A conventional garbage disposal includes an inlet connected to the sink drain, a grinder, and a motor. The inlet is generally fitted with a rubber splash baffle that has a small center opening and is generally slit radially into sections resembling pie slices. A number of United States patents illustrate these prior art splash baffles, the contents and teachings of each which are incorporated herein by reference, including 2,793,373 by Ewing, entitled “Baffle and closure assembly for food waste disposer”; 2,846,154 by Wieczorek, entitled “Sink mount for waste disposal units”; 2,875,958 by Wieczorek, entitled “Baffle and stopper for waste disposal unit”; 2,896,866 by Hyde, entitled “Baffle and stopper for waste disposal unit”; 2,925,225 by Jordan, entitled “Cushioned hanging device for garbage grinders”; 2,948,482 by Jordan, entitled “Splash guard with plug for waste disposal apparatus”; 2,980,351 by Greene, entitled “Waste disposer and splash guard therefor”; and 6,735,791 by Lordahl et al, entitled “Disposal adapter”. The splash baffle provides nominal resilience or resistance in either direction, thereby deforming to permit flow down into the garbage disposal, but when there is insufficient flow, the water will pass around and not deform the rubber. Since during low flow the rubber splash baffle is not deformed, low-mass water and food that is kicked up toward the operator will hit the rubber and not pass back up.
Unfortunately, the splash baffle must be very pliant to permit food and low volumes of water to pass through. This means that more forceful back-splashes will still deform the rubber upwardly, causing the operator to be unpleasantly splashed. Furthermore, since there is no guard or screen, utensils may pass down into the sink. When a hard object such as a spoon engages with the disposal blades, the utensil may be thrown forcefully from the sink, or the utensil may block and seize the disposal.
The splash baffle also provides no protection against a person inserting their hand into the disposal inlet, particularly when the disposal has seized from engagement with a spoon or other hard object. Yet, as may be appreciated, it is a natural first response for a person to reach in and try to remove the utensil. A typical household garbage disposal has a motor that is more powerful than most all blenders, and so, even if the person successfully dislodges the utensil, the motor may force the utensil as soon as the utensil is loosened sufficiently, which can cause great harm to the person. Further, when a person is working on food preparation, it is very easy for them to rush and push material into the disposal, or for a myriad of other reasons accidentally endanger themselves.
Typically, one thinks of garbage disposals for home use, but disposals are extensively used throughout the commercial food industry, where great quantities of food must be disposed of quickly. Examples of food industries range from school and restaurant kitchens to food preparation businesses, such as frozen or non-frozen food manufacturers, butcher shops, and even meat packers where unusable portions of the meat must be disposed. The throat of a home garbage disposal is of a size that allows the insertion of an adult hand. In retail and industrial food preparation establishments, garbage disposal capacity is even larger than those used in the home. Consequently, the garbage disposal throat is larger than that for home use, making the danger of hand insertion even greater. Garbage disposals in school and commercial kitchens are also potentially more powerful, so that they may quickly and efficiently grind up anything coming in to contact with the grinding or cutting heads. The garbage disposals represent a clear and present danger to kitchen staff. Consequently, a guard is necessary to protect kitchen staff from accidental injury or harm caused by accidental contact with the garbage disposal blades, or contact with matter expelled therefrom. As a result of the risk, in a commercial setting Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations mandate that the garbage disposal entrance be protected. The regulations further require that the guard not be user-removable, so that it cannot easily be tampered with.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,197, entitled “Garbage disposal guard”, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, illustrates one exemplary guard which is designed to meet the OSHA regulations in combination with a garbage disposal unit. While this guard performs the intended functions in an exemplary manner, several opportunities exist for improvement. A first opportunity has to do with splash-back. The rubber splash baffle found in some disposal units is only of limited effectiveness, as has been outlined herein above. Further, since the guard in commercial units by OSHA regulations is not operator-removable, the guard acts as a limit to the ultimate size of food that may be passed therethrough. A finer grating will prevent hands and utensils from passing through, but will also prevent larger food waste from passing, including the rotten potato or tomato mentioned herein above.
A number of other artisans have designed drain guards, including features specifically for garbage disposal. The following U.S. patents, the contents and teachings which are incorporated herein by reference, are exemplary of these: 2,244,402 by Powers, entitled “Waste disposal apparatus”; 2,544,498 by Hiertz, entitled “Removable strainer-stopper assembly for sinks or the like”; 2,670,143 by Jordan, entitled “Garbage disposer with protective inlet”; 2,953,308 by Isola, entitled “Domestic appliance”; 3,161,360 by Levine, entitled “Guard for garbage disposal”; 4,519,102 by Efstratis, entitled “Garbage disposal guard”; 4,752,035 by Felder, entitled “Disposal guard”; 5,271,108 by Wicke, entitled “Sink drain guard”; 6,000,643 by Gelder, entitled “Safety entrance for garbage grinder”; 7,264,188 by Anderson et al, entitled “Noise baffle for food waste disposer”; and 7,533,836 by Pan, entitled “Splash guard for a garbage disposal unit”.
Additional patents and published applications that illustrate various sink and drain strainers, the contents and teachings which are incorporated herein by reference, include: 2,236,885 by Zinkil et al, entitled “Sink strainer and stopper and the like”; 3,449,775 by De Krauze, entitled “Kitchen sink plug”; 3,702,013 by Gebert, entitled “Hair Catching Device”; 3,742,524 by Ballentine, entitled “Hair Strainer: Drain Strainer”; 3,742,525 by Oropallo, entitled “Drain Fitting”; 3,745,594 by Cosper, entitled “Shower Floor Drain”; 3,788,485 by Bruning, entitled “Drain Guard for Contact Lens”; 3,854,151 by Boudewyn, entitled “Floor Drain”; 3,982,289 by Robbins, entitled “Disposable sink strainer”; 4,138,747 by Zijlstra, entitled “Drainage fittings and/or wash-house fittings”; 4,161,043 by Flores, entitled “Sealing mechanism for a liquid floor drain”; 4,164,796 by Sakow, entitled “Sink strainer assembly”; 4,321,713 by Thompson, entitled “Large capacity drainage receptacle”; 4,329,744 by Cuschera, entitled “Shower receptor drain”; 4,443,897 by Austin, entitled “Anti-clog sink device”; 4,883,590 by Papp, entitled “Adjustable floor drain apparatus”; 4,910,811 by Izzi, Sr., entitled “Plastic floor drain”; Des 278,459by Cook, entitled “Sink strainer”; Des 370,716by Menzies, entitled “Deck drain”; Des 461,233by Whalen, entitled “Marine deck drain strainer”; WO 03/093592 by Stephenson et al, entitled “Pipe filter and closure assembly”; EP 1,509,658 by Stephenson et al, entitled “Pipe filter and closure assembly”; and WO 2009/116736 by Lee, entitled “Foreign substance filtering film for drain and method for manufacturing same”.
Other patents and published applications of no relevance to patentability but that illustrate various concepts for which the contents and teachings which are incorporated herein by reference, include: Des 54,617by Haven, entitled “Gutter screen”; Des 92,115by Spencer, entitled “Flower holder”; Des 92,433by Spencer, entitled “Flower holder”; Des 103,769by Spencer, entitled “Flower holder”; Des 194,506by Laan, entitled “Flower pot”; and Des 290,679by Thorpe, entitled “Drain pan”.
In addition to the foregoing documents, Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.